Unsure how strong a victory La Secta got here. No idea what the deal was with the cage. Mary Apache appears to be in La Secta, which is definitely weird. No facepaint yet. Maybe they are setting up Drago & Faby vs Mary & Cuervo?

Like this:

CMLL (FRI) 08/30/2013Arena Mexico [CMLL, CMLL on Terra]
1) Apocalipsis & Disturbio b Metálico & SenseiRudos took 1/3.
2) Amapola, La Seductora, Princesa Blanca b Dalis la Caribeña, Goya Kong, MarcelaSeductora pinned Marcela in the first (only after Blanca powerbombed Marcela.) At the end of a long second fall, Marcela accidentally missile dropkicked Dallys, and Dallys attacked her not at all on accident. Rudas took advantage for the win. Dallys, looking like the ruda in the new issue, refused to make friends and stormed off after the match.
3) Averno, Pólvora, Rey Escorpión b Blue Panther, Máscara Dorada, MisticoRudos took 1/3. Revolucionarios beat Estetas in the third and challenged for a title shot. Mascara Dorada accepted for “proxima fecha.” Panther and Averno feuded heavily and brawled to the back at the finish.
4) Dragón Rojo Jr. b Titán [CMLL Universal, eightfinal]Dragon Bomb for the win.
5) Hiroshi Tanahashi b Shigeo Okumura [CMLL Universal, eightfinal]Okumura was a last minute replacement for Diamante Azul (out for “personal reasons”.) Tanahashi worked tecnico and won with a german suplex.
6) La Sombra b Mephisto [CMLL Universal, eightfinal]Sombra double moonsault (after kicking out of Mephisto’s valagueza and super Devil’s Wings.)
7) Virus b Valiente [CMLL Universal, eightfinal]Virus won clean with the Gori Special.
8) Hiroshi Tanahashi b Dragón Rojo Jr. [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]Tanahashi survived Rojo’s top rope double stomp and put on a cloverleaf for the submission win.
9) La Sombra b Virus [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]Sombra Brillante Driver to advance.
10) Hiroshi Tanahashi b La Sombra [CMLL Universal, final]Good match. Sombra started to go for the rope flip moonsault, but was distracted by Volador Jr. Tanahashi dropped Sombra with the Hooligan Crash and landed the High Fly Flow for the win. Sombra challenged Tanahashi to mask versus hair match. Tanahashi did not accept.
11) Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush b Felino, Negro Casas, Volador Jr.Negro submitted Rush with an STF in the first. Maximo beat Volador with the Kiss of Death in the second. Maximo and Marco beat the Casas brothers clean in the third. Some great Negro versus Rush action.

Terra’s feed died during the Blue Panther/Averno match, but was fine otherwise. Universal tournament matches seemed better than usual. Announcers did the usual Fox wrap up bit after Tanahashi/Sombra, so the Universal tournament should be airing on that show. The rest – maybe Galavision? maybe nowhere? Maybe 52MX since there’s no Sunday taping?

I’m sure Mascara Dorada said “proxima fecha”, but apparently that doesn’t mean next week. Or the Anniversary show, so far, because it’s not been added to that. None of the guys are on next week’s card.

Diamante Azul is supposed to be defending his title versus Pierroth today in Durango.

Like this:

AAA is back to taping TV tonight in Arena Naucalpan. The main event was originally scheduled to be a normal trios match, but it will instead be a cage match including La Secta members Cuervo, Ozz and Escoria, Perro Aguayo, Mesias and Cibernetico (with nothing on the line.) The original idea was the tecnicos & Perro had to find away to get along to fight the Secta, but that seems less vital now that they’re in a cage and not really a team. It’s a big proving ground for La Secta, who had a good start a month ago with their attack on the tecnicos and need to keep it rolling if they’re going to be believed as a strong rudo unit. Semimain is another Consejo (& oddly Ultimo Gladiador) versus Psycho Circus match.

First four matches have less ongoing story but all could be really good. Magnficia and Lolita get rare TV appearances in the opener (in what looks like it could be the best women’s match in Arena Naucalpan in “I don’t even know how long”). Dinastia faces off his best opponent – Mini Histeria – in the minis match. The Mexican Powers get the chance to be less extreme and more kid friendly in a trios match against a sort of IWRG crew and a Jack/Angelico versus Rockers vs Perros del Mal three way match could be the best match anywhere tonight.

CMLL has it’s usual Friday night show in Arena Mexico. Sunday’s cancellation means tonight’s show will be broadcast live on Terra.mx at 8:30 pm CT. There’s a generally meaningless (but possibly good) trios main event, and the real focus is on the Universal tournament. There are guys I like in this block – Titan! Valiente! Virus! – but they really might as well skip all first and second round matches and just give Sombra and Tanahashi 15 minutes. It would be a massive upset if they weren’t the final two, and it looks very likely that Tanahashi will advance to face Rush next week, leaving only the quality the block final will be as the only big mystery. The more time they get, the better it’ll be.

Meanwhile, Panther and Averno meet in the tercera but their feud may not be the story coming out of it. CMLL is very slightly teasing a Revolucinarios versus Estetas trios title match; we should know if it’s happening and when it’s happening by the end of the night.

As noted last night, CMLL and AAA are off GalaTV this week. There’s a Veracruz/Monterrey game starting at 4:45 instead, though they could’ve easily moved the shows around and still aired them instead of the 100th repeat of Secrets of Magic Revealed! AAA people have bragged about how their show gets better ratings than WWE (as recently as Perro Aguayo Jr. in this week’s SuperLuchas), but it’s pretty obvious that doesn’t matter too much to Televisa – they’d air Raw at the wrong time if they had to, but not AAA or CMLL. Neither promotion has acknowledged the preemption.

Didn’t notice it last night, but the Mexican baseball playoffs wrapped up. (Quintaa Roo Tigres won.) Both TVC Deportes and the AYM family of networks were to carry games this weekend if the series kept going. Expect all the lucha libre times to move around now that they’ve got the opening.

A recap of last Sunday’s show in Coliseo Tulancingo mentions local luchador Rocky Lobo is headed to Japan. Lobo is a DTU regular and has popped up in AAA. No promotion is mentioned. He doesn’t fit the look of the guy teased to be joining Eita’s group in Dragon Gate, though he’d have the right connections to be there. Lobo is also related to Super Crazy, so NOAH seems possible, but there’s no sign of him on their just announced tour. Maybe it’s a small group?

Like this:

Leo Riano knew what he was talking about: CMLL & AAA are off GalaTV this week. (At least according to entutele and Teleivsa’s website – TV Guide still lists them on at normal times.) This happened back on 08/03, with no warning that week, and the shows were were back on next week. There needs to be at least two straight weeks of no TV before worrying about any long term change, but CMLL & AAA losing GalaTV would be tremendous change to the status quo.

En Busca de un Idolo also is missing from the schedule.

== AAA ==

AAA-Televisa: this will still air on UTDN, and be at least half of the Queretaro show. This probably works out as a 1 week taping, which means Psycho Circus vs Consejo and Cibernetico/Parka/Mesias vs Perro/Negra/Chessman definitely air, and a couple picks from the undercard.

AAA-Fusion: Whatever’s left from the Queretaro show

== CMLL ==

Galavision/Televisa: A bit of trouble, since this was supposed to have Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero and the CMLL Universal tournament. They’ve a made an effort to put the best matches on this show the last couple of weeks, which may have been a way to stave off whatever’s happening.

FOX: Tanahashi/Namjague/Puma vs Marco/Maximo/Shocker, Oro/Maya/Titan vs Misterioso/Taichi/Vangelis. Maybe the opener if they have time. (Maybe the stuff that was on Televisa if they have a lot of warning time.)

Like this:

Leo Riano says there was a rumor a few weeks ago that lucha libre would be leaving broadcast TV in Mexico and the rumor has gotten stronger. That’s the GalaTV shows, and we’ve seen that network make weekend programming changes each year in time with the start of the NFL season (which starts next week.) The wording suggest to me that the rumor is the shows would still exist and probably still within the greater Televisa universe of networks, but maybe on a Televisa Deportes cable channel instead of the current free to all channel. I don’t want to delve into too heavy because it’s acknowledged as just a rumor, but it’d obviously be bad news for both promotions and have some very interesting ripple effects – the wrong network could seriously harm AAA, the right one could allow them to regain the rights to sell their US TV shows after all.

This week’s WON mentions AAA might be running Heroes Inmortales in Guadalajara, which would be around the same time as the WWE show. Alberto Del Rio, Rey Misterio and Big Show were announced for the tour. The WWE.com tour page adds the Wyatt Family and CM Punk. Sin Cara’s name was not mentioned. Resume fantasy booking!

Tercera Caida airs today at 5:30 pm, while there’s a Fusion show scheduled for 6pm on Friday. Either AAA takes another big break after the Toluca show, or there should be a couple new Fusion episodes in the next few weeks.

Hijo del Santo gives some attention to someone in need of an ego boost – Dr. Wagner Junior! This week’s column is about talking about Wagner as perhaps the most complete luchador in Mexico. I often wonder who Santo is writing this column for – maybe people who do not actually watch lucha libre – because he takes effort to explain Wagner’s normal gestures and catch phrases as if Wagner had not been a mainstay for the last 20 years. At the same time, Santo also repeatedly mentions he prefers Wagner Sr.’s look and style over his son’s, but the people seem to like his son’s and other similar slightly cutting remarks. I can’t tell if he’s being weird or just building up the feud for the mask match. Santo makes sure to get in the shot on AAA (the promotion that made him a tentpole of the promotion didn’t treat him with respect.)

Blue Panther says he’s been training with his sons in preparation for his hair match with Averno. Panther says he and Averno have agreed to submission rules and hopes Averno doesn’t take it back (which suggests this is not an official stipulation and may be ignored in the actual match to the great annoyance of people watching.) If Averno keeps up his side of it, Panther feels this might be the greatest match in the history of CMLL.

Cibernetico is a bit concerned about La Secta and Perros del Mal maybe having secretly planned this whole thing to set Cibernetico up for a beatdown on Friday night. Cibernetico reminds Perro that he was attacked too and he’ll get revenge on La Secta with or without him.

Violento Jack lost to Jun Kasai in the semifinals of the PAIN Limit match in a “double dangerous cross-board deathmatch”. Jack offered a handshake of respect after the match, but it was a setup to a powerbomb instead. Kasai would go onto lose in the final. I’d guess it’s not the end for Jack and Kasai.

NOAH introduces Fenix. They have Fenix for 4 Fusion title defenses, which is the same number as the luchawiki (which is probably wrong.)

Between this match, Puebla and the anniversary match, that’s three different increible matches where Rush is on the pseuedo-rudo side. Hmm. Meanwhile, Rush was in SuperLuchas this week, saying he didn’t want to be a rudo because all the fans cheer for the rudos and he doesn’t want to be cheered.

I need some Thunder/Dorada teamwork spots. Namajague, Puma and Virus is a great evil crew. Maybe Disturbio can make friends with Canelo now that Zavala has left him behind. Skipping the opener is fine.

Tanahashi was announced to be in CMLL until 09/08. It’s possible they could just reschedule his match versus Atlantis for that date if it’s not the day he’s expected to leave. If it doesn’t happen on 09/08, then it’s unlikely it will ever occur; Tanahashi may not be returning to Mexico any time soon, it’s unlikely to take place in NJPW and there’s no telling where Atlantis’ career will be headed after 09/13.

Terra’s weekly broadcast will be of tomorrow’s Friday night show instead. It’s unknown what CMLL will do with the the 52MX show (which uses the Terra Sunday broadcast.) If anyone’s looking for an idea, I would remind them that the Arena Coliseo Anniversary show never aired in the US and it’d be a nice thing to repeat.

Opening all four matches look good. It’s getting those guys a couple matches harder that’s the tough part. (Or, making yourself the new top rudos does not involve matches with Eterno & Steve Pain – unless you broke Super Nova’s knee!)

AAA keeps pushing the Parka/Parka Negra button hard during this cycle. Maybe they’ll be in a trios? A lot of these people will be in Copa Pena (which is a good way of holding off feuds for about four months.)

Semifinal suggests Psycho Clown may not get that pin over Texano Jr. this upcoming Friday, but they’re going to keep giving him shots to get it done. I haven’t seen a Alvardo get such a helpful/slightly unfair break since the time CMLL announced the 80th Anniversary lineup.

WWE will return to Mexico this October with four live shows (none taped for TV.) They’ll be in Queretaro on the 16th (a Wednesday), Guadalajara on the 17th, Mexico City on the 18th, and finish in Monterrey on the 19th. Alberto del Rio will be in Mexico City on Thursday for the official announcement. Del Rio himself had actually mentioned WWE would be returning to Mexico in October a while ago, but it’s taken longer than usual for WWE to announce it. WWE has other live events announced in the US for that week, and includes Alberto on some of the cards, so they may have not worked out who’s going where quite yet. WWE is running live events in the United Arab Emerites the week prior, so it’s an extra long stretch of travel for some of the wrestlers. The Mexico City show will be in Arena Ciudad de Mexico and be heads up with the usual Friday Arena Mexico show.

Rey Misterio Jr. has recently said he’d be back soon, and would be a natural fit for this tour. I would presume Sin Cara is still going to be around that long.

SuperLuchas points out a Tijuana newspaper interview Damian 666, who says he was not paid by local promoter MV Promociones after working a show in June. Damian says other people haven’t been paid, and a check from the group to him bounced last year (he was paid six months later that time.) Damian is also critical of the promotion for not actually shaving Oficial AK-47 after he lost his hair match, doing the ‘the electric razor won’t work’ bit. That interview was from July. Oficial AK-47 sent a statement to the paper in August, saying he had gotten his hair cut backstage and been paid fully by the promotion, and Damian and others shouldn’t use his name to try and get money from the promoter.

The latest Dr. Lucha podcast is free for all. He explains the CMLL thinking about the Anniversary main event was to go out of the way to include the young guys so they’re building to the future as much instead of just ending a feud, and the feuds may cross over after the Anniversary (so Dos Leyendas would end up being Young Guy vs Old Guy instead of the current feuds.) He’s got a surprising pick for the result of the Anniversary show, but you’ll have to listen to find out.

A 330 page book on lucha libre is available for free here. It’s a journal called Luna Cornea, a series on photography, and this issue was on lucha libre. The photos are worth flipping thru even if you don’t want to read the articles (in Spanish, but repeated in English near the end of the book.) It’s also NSFW on a couple of pages.

Fenix (video promo here) says he’s going after the GHC Junior Heavyweight championship. Title match hasn’t been announced yet, so he’ll need to pick up a couple early wins.

I seem to recall Negro Navarro & Trauma I winning a #1 contender match for those tag team titles. I guess it’s possible Negro is letting his son take his spot, but that doesn’t sound like Negro Navarro.

IWRG has a war on 2 fronts – the cibernetico is dangerous enough, but the creeping Monterrey invasion continues in the segunda.